Z Ask: Part1 Season 6 Episode 17
by NotQuiteNorm
Summary: Charlie and Amita are leaving the next morning so everyone decides to spend the last night with them. Disclaimer:I do not own Numb3rs. Caution:May include scenes of violence and character death. -COMMENTS ALL WELCOME-
1. Prologue

"So, the last supper." Colby stretched lazily as he pulled on his jacket. "What fanta-bulous dish will we be eating tonight?" Charlie grinned at the agent; ignoring the strange choice of vocabulary he had used.

"Pizza."

"_Oh, how spectacular!" _Nikki said sarcastically, picking up a set of keys to the office file cabinet; "You're leaving for two years and you couldn't think of any food that'd be a bit more, I don't know… radical?"

"What kind of food would you describe as radical!" David sniggered, only to be quickly silenced by an icy glare in his direction.

"Stand down Betancourt!" Colby pat her on the back.

David seemed frozen as Nikki held her gaze for a few more seconds, before throwing the keys to David who quickly recovered and caught them clumsily. "Don't forget to lock up now David." A teasing smile played across her lips.

"Ooh! Burn!" Colby declared chuckling lightly. David gave Colby a warning look, and Colby rolled his eyes. "Getting back to the subject, I have to agree with Nikki. Was pizza all you could think of? Charlie?"

Charlie, lost in his own world took a few seconds to realise that silence had loomed. Everyone in the room was looking expectantly at him and his cheeks flushed slightly at the attention.

"Sorry? Um I dunno, Amita chose it; I just figured she didn't want my dad to have to cook tonight. That is what you asked right?" He looked confusedly at the numerous smirks being directed at him. "That _is _what you asked? _Right?_"

"So, that last case was a biggy." Colby changed the subject, turning away from Charlie. He looked back at David grinning broadly.

David got the point and tried to impede himself from bursting with laughter at Charlie's look of utter bewilderment of what everyone was avoiding. Or at least Charlie thought they were avoiding something… "Yeah, I knew Don was attached to his gun but wow!"

"Seriously guys, what did I say!" Charlie's voice was now full of pleading and Colby looked to him with false confusion.

"What? When?"

Don was talking with his father and Amita when Charlie's voice became load enough that all three of them could no longer ignore it. "**Just then, when you asked me a question and I wasn't listening and**-" Charlie seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

Colby did his best to look upset, seeming to convince only Charlie that his feelings were hurt. "You weren't listening to me?" Nikki snorted; her hand covering her face and David began wiping away tears from his eyes as he laughed noiselessly as they watched Colby tease their genius friend.

Charlie looked stunned by the sudden burst of emotion, he was unsure of how to react to the agent and was thankful that at that moment Don walked in, followed by Amita and his dad. The thankfulness did not last long.

"Colby, I hope your not messing with my Chucky now!" Don ruffled Charlie's hair, only for the curly head to whip away from his grasp - Charlie crossing his arms tight against his chest in a huff.

"He wasn't messing with me! Can we please just go to dinner!" He left the room – his arms now waving about franticly – followed closely by his father, wife, brother and his brother's team. Only one person wasn't smiling as the posse made their way across the parking lot.

As they got into their vehicles Don decided to change the subject for his brothers sake, "So why are we meeting Larry at the pizza house again?"


	2. Pizza house

Quite impressed by the number of readers in the space of just over two days (and extra thanks who actually tagged the story). Am definitely glad I decided to write up the episode I've had swirling around my head since I saw the Season 6 finally. It was alright as an episode, but Numb3rs was one of America's most popular TV shows and more importantly MY FAVOURITE TV show. They should definitely have given it way more than an alright send off. Just like all the great characters and series-

NUMB3RS DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED FOR ITS LAST EPISODE.

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"Wow. I still can't believe you two are going to be gone for two years," David mused over his own words.

Colby nodded, "Yeah, we're gonna miss you two"

"I agree that the effects of your departure will be considerable. Though, I remain in awe of how exceptionally your students reacted towards the news of your departure."

Nikki looked at Larry, "Why? What did they do?"

At his recollection of the story Don smiled and stretched lazily in his chair while Alan began to chuckle inwardly. Amita leaned forward to listen to the story that over the past week had been passed around CalSci and anyone with close connections to the school like candy.

"When the news got around that I was leaving CalSci my students actually 'whooped' with joy." The agents grinned at Larry's agitated sarcasm, but he didn't seem to notice as he continued, "For Amita - there were flowers and a card."

He stopped for a drink and Nikki, assuming that was the great deed of the students, started to speak. "Forgive me, but that's a little bit…um…normal. Isn't it?"

Larry finished and proceeded to talk whilst ignoring Nikki completely. "But for Charles, but for _Doctor Eppes_," he exaggerated the name - taking his time to perfect each syllable - "For Doctor Eppes they just had to do more than just a solemn card and present." Larry paused for effect.

"What?" Colby had one eyebrow raised and his head was tilted slightly. By now everyone was interested; sitting huddled around their isle table at the pizza house, and far to busy to hear a phone vibrate or notice their companion leaving the table.

"A memorial." Larry said simply.

"A what!" Nikki's grin broadened.

"They held a 'Charles Eppes was more than just a teacher' memorial. They acted as though he was not merely leaving, but instead as if he had actually passed away."

The table erupted with laughter. As many times as some of them had heard the story already, this time was by far the best. The uptight and slightly infuriated-ness of Laurence Fleinhardt, paired with his usual quirky personality made him a hilariously comical story teller.

"I can't believe you never told us that! Charl-" David's cheerful expression quickly turned to one of mild confusion and the look distributed itself onto each person sitting there's features as they noticed that Charlie was no longer in his seat.

It only took seconds for Amita to scan the restaurant and point to the window where her spouse was looking increasingly distressed. "He's making a phone call," she said.

"I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that phone call." Don wasn't sure whether Colby was joking or not as he watched his brother on the phone outside. He was striding swiftly in and out of the view of the window. One of his arms was pressing a mobile to his ear, the other frantically waving about in anger.

Don was just beginning to wonder if there might be something wrong with Charlie's flight when his brother's persona and suddenly Don's whole outlook on the situation changed.

Charlie was scared. He had stopped pacing and had been standing rigid, facing away from the door way, but it was only when he turned to face his party that Don saw it. The already pale skin was now paper-white. The dark eyes were large and made Don's knees buckle under the table.

Charlie's brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend the news he'd just received. He wasn't going anywhere if Don found out. _When Don found out. _It took him a few seconds to digest the information before he realised that every one of his close friends and family were watching him. He sighed, rubbing his eyes and leaned against the edge of the Restaurant door for a second, taking a few deep breaths and forcing himself to go back in.


	3. The other end of the phone line

"Look! How long have they been trying to get into the system?"

Matt Li was the FBI's computer technician, but when it became obvious of what the hacker's were trying to get access to it didn't matter what they were or weren't capable of. "Please Charlie. 46 hours does not mean that they are incapable of getting at the FBI database. It just means that they could be that much closer to breaking any protection we have."

"Have you even called in Harris yet?" Charlie's voice sniped from the phones speaker.

"Charlie. You know fine well that he was contacted before you." Matt took a breath and when there was no reply he continued; "You also know that I wouldn't have come to you if I didn't need to. I got what I needed and I backed off. I know this was meant to be your last day in L.A. so I tried no-"

"What!" Charlie interrupted.

"Um…Charlie, something wrong?"

"No, I just thought you said…" his voice trailed off for a second, whispering to himself in the background, before he got back to his point, "If you backed off then why am I on the phone with you right now."

"The files." Matt could barely tell him. He was a really nice guy and of all people _Charlie_ didn't deserve this. "The file that they were trying to get access to…"

"What about them?" Charlie was sounding more and more impatient as he almost shouted down the phone, "MATTHEW! WHAT ABOUT THE FILES!"

The technician swallowed. He didn't actually _need_ to make this phone call, but he knew that Charlie's brother would be receiving a call any second now. "They're yours." He knew he needed to say the rest quickly; like ripping off a band-aid, "They're your and the hackers have got them." He finished more slowly, with real remorse for the math consultant; privately wishing he could have done more. "But we don't…Charlie, the hackers hijacked the database. He made a copy and deleted everything with your name on it. They were way too experienced in the field for us to do anything."

There was a long pause and Matt was beginning to think that Charlie had gone. "'They'? How do you know there was more than one hacker" His voice was flat; a monotone enquiry that Matt was sure Charlie had more interest in than it seemed.

"There were two different usernames both sending their input to the man behind it: we know because it was an open 'jack. They had been going at it for just under the 46 hours when they linked into every FBI computer." Matthew knew that the Doctor didn't need him to tell him any more. Charlie would already understand that the hackers were mocking them by letting everyone watch the database reveal itself to unknown operatives.


	4. Nothing Yes Can we leave?

I am hoping everyone is enjoying it so far and has coped with the last three chapters having a serious lack of death, angst and/or violence. Things are about to change.

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_**Charlie's brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend the news he'd just received. He wasn't going anywhere if Don found out. When Don found out. It took him a few seconds to digest the information before he realised that every one of his close friends and family were watching him. He sighed, rubbing his eyes and leaned against the edge of the Restaurant door for a second, taking a few deep breaths and forcing himself to go back in.**_

"Hey, what happened?" Don stood up as his brother approached; he looked far more pail and drained than Don could stand to see. "Is something wrong? Do you need anything?"

Charlie actually seemed relieved by his brother's confusion and slumped into his seat where he was visited by seven pairs of eyes, including Don's, which had been on him since he walked through the door. "Nothing. Yes. Can we leave?" Charlie's voice was quiet; laced with shock and defeat and he proceeded to the cashier without waiting for an answer.

Don exchanged looks with the others before nodding toward the door. "Why don't you let Charlie and I catch up?"

The others took the meaning and head to the exit and as he went passed Alan smiled at his son. "It's nice to know that you're looking out for him." Don mirrored his father's warm smile and watched as he left the pizza house.

"Everyone left you here alone?" Charlie startled Don slightly, standing directly behind him when he spoke. "How come?"

"No. They left_ us_ alone Charlie, because I asked them to go." Don couldn't help that notice that, clean-shaven with recently trimmed hair, Charlie looked hardly thirty, never mind thirty-five. "Charlie, are you sure that was nothing. You know that you can come to me with anything right?"

"What's the point, it'll only be a couple of minutes before you know anyway." Don had rested his left arm across Charlie's shoulder and was directing him out of the building. Charlie was in far too bad a mood to even realise that they were moving. "I'm surprised you haven't had a call already."

"What's that supposed to mean? _Charlie!_ God Charlie, you have got to get out of this funk that you've been in for the last couple of hours and -" Charlie had stopped and was staring at Don, his head tilted slightly; a smirk threatening to emerge. "What?" That smile was contagious.

"Funk?" Charlie said with a cross between disbelief and amusement.

"Yeah, so what? Funk. It means-"

"Don, I know what it means."

"Yeah? But can you spell it!" Don's eyes crinkled from the grin he couldn't banish as he play fought with his brother. "C'mon Charlie – get that massive brain working!"

Don was getting louder, but it didn't matter. The only people in the street other than them and were two men passing and their companions, not too far off in the distance. They had shorts on and one was carrying a bat; the other presumably had the ball in his sports-bag.

Then he felt Charlie being abruptly pulled from under his arm.

He turned to see what his brother was doing, but then he felt something collide with his head from the right. Everything started to spin, yet with some concentration he could make out his brother struggling with one of the sportsmen, who was trying to get a rag out of his bag with one hand; the other over Charlie's mouth.

He somehow remembered his team. He knew that he needed to get their attention, so he opened his mouth to yell, only to be met once again with what he assumed was the baseball bat. He had hardly made a noise and as his surroundings faded he knew he had failed to protect Charlie.

"Kill him! He can identify us!" One man said quietly to the other. Charlie had watched in horror as his brother had been hit repeatedly with a baseball bat. The sight had weakened his desire to escape his captor considerably, but the thought of witnessing Don's murder frightened him more. This was going to happen. It was going to happen with three other FBI agents in sight. Charlie couldn't let this happen.

From pure adrenaline alone Charlie leaned forward with force whilst pulling his captor to his left. The man flipped right over his shoulder, fortunately this distracted his brother's attacker, unfortunately the man had flipped softly onto his backside; ready to regain hold of his victim.

Charlie had hardly more than a second. His attacker had a grip on Charlie's arm and was reaching for his mouth. The other man had processed what was going on and was once more reaching for his bat.

"D-O-O-O-O-O-N!"


	5. Actions and reactions

"So, who're you gonna miss more?" Colby pried.

"I am definitely going to miss Amita more; she's far more…er…aware of her surroundings." Alan replied indifferently before chuckling.

"Well, I _am_ the one that doesn't make a mess!"

**"D-O-O-O-O-O-N!"**

"Was that-" David turned around to see Don on the ground and Charlie trying desperately to pull away from the grasp of a man in shorts. He was putting up one hell of a struggle and another man was starting to help the first in holding him, dropping a baseball bat as he did approached them.

"CHARLIE!" He had already unconsciously started running toward the striving mathematician; simultaneously removing his revolver from it's holster.

The two attackers looked up at the advancing agent and began to hasten the abduction, but Charlie was still incessant on assisting his injured brother.

"Don!" They no longer had a reason to keep the young man quiet and instead put all their effort into getting him away into a blue van that had just driven up at the end of the road, but the abductee was getting hard to control.

"Just knock him out!" the original captor yelled, but his partner only looked confusedly back at him; he never was good in situations like these. The captor rolled his eyes and looked around. Deciding on the closest hard surface, a shop window, he thrust the curly haired head into the glass with full force, smashing the whole section of glass and not quite knocking the guy out, but causing sufficient nausea and light-headedness that he became a much more cooperative target. "Come on!"

"Hey! FBI! Stop and put your hands up!" Colby and Nikki had joined the chase, but as they passed the original crime area they were quickly stopped by the sight of his supervisor, "Shit; Don." He leant beside his unconscious boss and felt along his neck for a pulse.

"Damn." David watched the van as it drove away, "GOD DAMN IT!" He leant his head on the wall beside him before swiftly changing his mind and striding back in the direction of his team.

"He's okay, but I'll be more surprised if he hasn't go a concussion." Colby looked up at the sound of David's arrival and strained to keep from yelling at him for not catching them, though he knew they were too far away in the beginning. "Did you call it in?"

"Not yet." David pulled out his cell and called the director, stepping away from the others so that he could hear which was unnecessary as the street was silent.

Nikki, after seeing that Don was all right, stepped back to see three civilians standing rigid. Two staring forward while the other varied with wide fearful eyes unsure whether at the son lying beaten on the path or looking off into the distance for a son that was no longer there was worse.

"Alan." She sighed in relief at the sound of Colby's voice. She ducked down to tend to Don and avoid the awkward conversation about the attack. "Alan, he's okay, just a little bruised. It's nothing that he can't handle."

Alan grimaced, but didn't get a chance to speak because Amita intercept, "But what about Charlie?" Colby was watching Alan and saw him lose the firm composure that until then he had managed to quite remarkably keep. "They just took him! They shoved him right into the window and -"

"Amita, please!" Colby discontinued her without delay, both for her own and Alan's sake; during the few seconds she had been talking he had already lost the majority of colour from his face and was appearing to become increasingly unstable to the extent that Colby feared he might collapse.

"I think we should take a walk," Larry stepped in taking the now hyperventilating woman's arm and tugging lightly. When she didn't stir he continued, "Just up and down the sidewalk; I believe it would do you good to walk a bit, it will help you to calm down and think more clearly." She then started to saunter slowly and Colby sent an appreciative, yet grim nod in Larry's direction.

With Amita taken care of Colby shifted his focus back to Alan, "Are you feeling okay?" He was genuinely concerned for the man's health, in all of five years Colby was sure this was the first time he had looked 'old'.

After a few seconds Alan finally processed the question, but his gaze remained, now fixed in one spot, on his eldest son. "I'd say that I'm feeling appropriately considering the circumstances."


	6. Hospital beds and heart monitors

BTW: Our FBI's didn't have their vehicles, whereas the kidnappers had blue van - Colby and Nikki knew they were not fast enough to chase the van on foot, but it took David longer to take heed. That is my reason for not sending them into a full pursuit.

Sorry, this is a short chapter, but it had to be done. Would you rather I spent my time extending it or working on the more exciting parts!

* * *

**Then he felt Charlie being abruptly pulled from under his arm.**

**He turned to see what his brother was doing, but then he felt something collide with his head from the right. Everything started to spin, yet with some concentration he could make out his brother struggling with one of the sportsmen, who was trying to get a rag out of his bag with one hand; the other over Charlie's mouth.**

**He somehow remembered his team. He knew that he needed to get their attention, so he opened his mouth to yell, only to be met once again with what he assumed was the baseball bat.**

"CHARLIE!" Don sat upright as he woke, breathing heavily and sweating, to recognize his father's worried eyes looking back at him. He had clearly been startled when Don had awoken; hell, Don had been startled himself, though he was seriously glad to be out of the nightmare he'd been having.

Don relaxed his tense upper-body back into the cushions, giving himself time to distinguish his surroundings. He had realised that he was in hospital the moment he'd left his dream. He recognised the generally smooth, recurrent beeping of heart monitors (though his own was rather rapid) in the ward around him. He had also noticed the smell of antiseptic dry-wash and steriliser; pretty much a dead giveaway for hospitals.

He was now completely engaged with his own thoughts that it took him just under two minutes to realise that he was being watched, and that the four sets of eyes were filled with apprehension. It was like a slap in the face.

**He had hardly made a noise and as his surroundings faded he knew he had failed to protect Charlie.**

"Charlie." He sighed the name, resting his head heavily on the beds headboard and wiping his forehead forcefully; creating folds in his skin as it was pushed together.

"Maybe we should make ourselves scarce." Larry looked rather uncomfortable with one shoulder of his shirt unmistakably soaked with Amita sitting next to him. Amita's eyes were red and swollen, her voice hoarse.

Don followed Larry's line of vision to a notebook in David's hands. Don nodded "It'll only take a second; I didn't, um," he motioned toward one particularly swollen part of his head before he continued, "See much."


	7. To hell I can't

Okay, thank you and I think I got all of the spelling corrections, but if not feel free to tell me what I wrote wrong and which chapter. :)

I know that some things are being left unclear, but that's just what numb3rs do. They try to keep people interested by unraveling different parts of the puzzle at different speeds.

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"WHAT!" The two men looked at each other, Alan now supporting Amita who looked one step short of a break down, wincing at the sound of Don's voice. Alan knew that they were due to hear the news next and that from his son's yell that the news wasn't necessarily something that he wanted to hear.

The sound of clattering gave the illusion that Don wasn't taking whatever he was being told too well. "Oh dear," Larry breathed over the noise coming from the door behind him.

Suddenly the door opened and Don, now fully dressed, walked briskly out and along the corridor, David closely following behind. "Don," He hissed at his upper, then more loudly, "Don. You cannot just leave the hospital, and even if you do, you can't work on the case."

Alan, Larry and Amita had also stepped in behind, "To hell I can't," Don stopped to face David, a threatening hand on the mans chest, "You need all the help you can get. Come on, your working an investigation with nothing so far except his picture and a helpline. They know everything! They have every detail with Charlie's name on it, and you are going to need my help. David?" The last word was more pleading.

"Don, you know I can't," David paused, sensing he was being observed and looked to the three figures staring back with shock and horror on their faces. "Alan, I… I was just about to tell you… I'm so… uh… so sorry…"


	8. This might be over by lunchtime

"Okay, thanks." Nikki rang off and looked at Granger with a hint of a smile. "We got something."

Colby raised one eyebrow, "Oh yeah?" She picked up his keys from the desk and swayed them in a 'you want them?' way before tossing them to him. "Oh yeah!" He caught them as they headed to the elevator door, Nikki dialling speed number 4 on her phone.

"_Sinclair."_

"We got a sighting of the van." She spoke as the elevator doors closed.

"This could be him." Colby knew better, but couldn't help but hope. "This could be all of them, and this could be over before lunchtime!"

The SUV slowed to a halt at the address they had been given. There was no vehicle in the drive. "Yeah, or it could be a false hit." The agent slammed the door as she stepped out onto the street. "Let's just check it out."

Colby realised himself and nodded, following her to the front of the small building. The place was newly built, with boarded windows and it didn't have any recorded residents or owners so the pair went straight in.

There were plain white walls and pale laminate flooring in both the hallway and the kitchen. Everything, from counters to chairs to utensils were all white. Looking up the stairway the plain, whiteness seemed to continue throughout the house.

"Wow. Taking obsessive compulsive to the extreme!" Colby picked up a spatula. "Or is this meant to be modern art!"

"Come on." She growled impatiently. She turned the knob of the living room door. "The sooner we do this, the sooner we- " Her eyes widened slightly; she knew she had seen a lot since working with the Eppes', but, "Holy crap."

Colby, who had been trailing after her, peered into the room. "We might need to call in some specialist assistance."

"Amita or Larry?" Nikki's eyes remained continuously surveying the room in front of her.

"For this." Colby paused. "Even both may not be enough."


	9. Falter and breakdown

Sorry about chapter length, but I'm trying to do each chapter as a single scene. I did upload three chapters today, so hopefully quantity altogether makes up for duration of chapters unaccompanied. Also, you may have noticed that I quite like toying with the effects Charlie might cause and playing with the characters.

* * *

"Here." Colby held out a set of gloves in either hand and offered them to Larry and Amita. "Put these on."

The two complied, pulling the gloves on with out a word, still unsure of what they were here for. Colby looked at the four individuals waiting to enter one particular room and Colby sighed, gesturing the others to follow, " I didn't even realise this much could be done in the time frame we have, and accounting for them getting here as well, he could only have been here for two or three hours, probably less than that."

Nikki broke off from the less than enjoyable conversation she was having with the newly discovered owner of the house to see her superior enter through the front door and, both glad for the distraction and worried for her bosses _and maybe even her _job, went after the agent. She knew just where she would find him; in the doorway of the living room, a perfect 'o' as his mouth. She joined him there to watch the resident experts at work.

Amita walked quickly through the house, Larry following closely behind, but stopped abruptly at the door. Everyone who went in did this the first few times, it always took people a second to catch their breath.

The room, alike the others, _had_ been completely white. Also the same was the choice of plastic materials making the furniture. The long settee, coffee table and empty television stand _had_ all been white plastic, the same for the desk and chair in the corner. The lighting was the same as throughout the house. Built-in to the ceiling and once _had _been overbearingly bright like the others, except that the light was blocked.

Everything had been written on. Thick pen and large scribblings were the first thing taken in. Then as one looked more closely they would note the far smaller scribing around and between the first set of large letters. In some places the walls were completely black, having been written and rewritten on, every overlap making the last impossible to decipher. It was only certain parts that were that bad, but not one square inch of the room had been left bare. It made Amita wonder, though she didn't plan for it to be spoken, and would regret that she had said it, in front of Don especially.

"Has he gone mad!"

Larry was too preoccupied with the theory to spare anyone with less penetrating words, "A breakdown maybe. This certainly isn't standard Charles Eppes…"

David looked worriedly toward Don before turning to Larry, desperate not to leave his friend and colleague without hope, "That isn't the only possibility though, right?"

Don glared at Larry, more desperate than angry. He was sweating and leaning on the graphitised desk.

"I think that it's unquestionably the most plausible option."

Everyone got a fright and Colby ran forward, arms out stretched, Nikki coming from behind.

Larry gazed with startled eyes at them as three struggled to hold up Don, who had clearly lost restraint over his limbs and was on the verge of passing out from lack of self-control; a result most definitely of his shock obtained by _his_ words.

The others remained silent, watching the usually strong 'Don Eppes' falter. Everything changed without Charlie. The thought that this might last forever was sickening.


	10. Charlie

Sorry, but I won't be posting much, it's way too warm and sunny outside! Please remember to post your comments, thank you.

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Though Charlie was pushed into the kneeling position he was now in, he was glad to be sitting without someone holding either arm like during the journey in the van. He was also glad that they were no longer in the van. It had taken them at least to hours to get to their destination; a large new looking building with thick wooden boards screwed where the windows would eventually be.

"Your thirsty." It wasn't a question so much as an observation. Charlie was most definitely thirsty, he regretted drinking so little earlier at the pizza house. He hadn't eaten much either.

His attention was quickly returned to his captors; the one who had originally grabbed him was called Ryan, but the other's name had not been mentioned. The nameless man on, on a white settee, was sitting in front of him and caressing the rim of a glass of water, Ryan now removing a rope from around his wrists as he knelt on the floor. "Questions one and two: do you recognise us? And more importantly, did the feds?"

Charlie stared past the man, his back straight and face composed. He ignored the questions completely.

After five minutes or so the men asked again. A further few minutes and the men became impatient. "Answer me!"

Charlie continued to look straight past the man, not daring to glance into his eyes. The man growled and stood up. He strode out of the room. 'Anonymous' had remained very quiet. He calmly waited in silence, standing next to the mathematician, and listened to the muffled cursing of his accomplice which was followed by a smash. The room was then quiet for a moment and then the man serenely left, closing and locking the door. Charlie was now alone in the large room; blocked off from the rest of the world.

For several minutes Charlie remained quite still, just until he knew for sure that they weren't coming back. When he finally looked around he instantly noticed the apparently only items that weren't white. Markers. A small collection of 'sharpie' pens, both thick and thin. It was exactly what Charlie needed. He had pens. The room was his white board.

It was three hours later that the men returned, though Charlie was too engaged to attempt to keep track of time. Anon breathed a 'wow', but Ryan snickered.

"He's a mental case." Charlie continued without flinching. "I'll watch 'im until we're ready to move on." Ryan said to his accomplice who shrugged and left the room. "You hear me before!" Charlie knew the question was directed at him but still he kept writing.

"Your brother got hit in the head pretty bad." The man seemed to delight as Charlie visibly tensed. The mathematician began to lose train of thought and substituted doing more math with repeating what he had previously written.

After a while though he seemed to refocus and began working efficiently once more. The kidnapper became bored and spoke once more. "I bet I killed him."


	11. Irrelevant information

Sorry, I wasn't stopping writing, but I was going to split into another "episode". I've decided to finish it then split the story. I have NOT given up... I will continue until I finish so that I can get the ideas out of my head!

**Is this a little too much like Angels and Devils? Didn't notice until now...**

* * *

Don was still pale and hugged the bucket tighter to his chest as he looked up at his approaching father. He didn't want his dad to worry, but he could already feel another rush of bile surging up his throat.

By the time he was finished and able to look up, Alan Eppes was neither longer looking calm, nor strong, and he had worry etched across his face in the form of creases. His father looked old as he crouched in front of him, looking up at his son, "Donny."

He left it at that. The old man knew that, at times like this, one word spoke volumes. He just looked deep the dark, pleading eyes, and the dark pleading eyes stared right back. From anyone else's point of view it looked like an FBI agent in the field too long; tired of seeing the things they saw, no longer able to drink off the pain, but Alan saw his son; still just a sick ten-year-old boy; red-rimmed eyes and moisture dripping from his jaw, nose running and the slight remnants of bile dribbled over his chin.

Colby glanced once more at his boss as he joined the other agents at one of the desks, "Man. He's really not taking this well." Nikki just glared.

Agitated by the situation, her temper had slowly been increasingly bad over the last couple of hours. She thrust a stack of 'call ins' toward her colleague – they couldn't trust that the FBI computer system wouldn't be hacked into again – and bellowed at him slow and gradual; concentrating on each syllable as though trying to teach a child, grasping everyone's attention. "THEY KIDNAPPED HIS BROTHER! OF COARSE HE'S NOT OKAY!"

Agent Betancourt realised her mistake and looked apologetically in the direction of her boss and his father. Don retreated back into his bucket to evacuate more of his stomach's contents and Alan's focus returned to his now violently shaking son. Content that she could do no more with out turning back the clocks, Nikki span back toward her work. At her desk were a rigid Mrs. Eppes and an uncomfortable-looking Mr Fleinhardt. Amita's eyes somewhere else, Larry's on his shoes, but both avoiding her gaze.

"Nothing." Larry's voice was quiet and Nikki wished that she had misheard him.

"Sorry?"

"It's all irrelevant to the case. None of it can help us." Larry allowed himself a glance at the woman before him. "Some of it seems to be probability, and the number for the factor is displayed as nine digits long, yet Charles is letting the math behave as though this number is portraying one single possibly very complicated issue. The variables are seemingly infinite. He is trying to solve a problem with insufficient data, so it isn't likely to work. It doesn't matter though."

"Why not? Why doesn't it matter!" Larry jumped at the sound of Don's voice as he approached.

"Don. You have to understand. He isn't trying to tell us anything." Don's brow furrowed with confusion and Alan moved towards them.

"What? What else would he be doing?"

Larry continued, "This," He pointed at the pictures taken of the crime scene, "Is not a means of communication Don." Larry paused until he was sure he had Don's full attention. "This is merely Charles' own, personal coping mechanism."

"Larry, I think I know what this is!" David had been listening into the conversation and couldn't shake what his friend had said _'"the factor is displayed as nine digits long, yet Charles is letting the math behave as though this number is portraying one single possibly very complicated issue."' _David couldn't help but wonder as he powered up the computer and typed the 'main factor' number into the federal Social Security Database.

"Its Don's social number." David couldn't help but smile a little at the best news to which he'd been exposed all day. "He's trying to figure out if your okay."


	12. Cheshire cat

This chapter took a small amount of research to see if my 'vision' could become reality and it turns out that yes, it can! I was beginning to worry that I would need to improvise, or even 'create' a poison to fit the liquid-to-gas needs for my story. For me, personally this is a **big** turning point in the story...I wonder if no-one thought the cloth would be significant!

_****I have had another story idea and was wondering whether I should work on both or just one. My computer is fixed and I have had my holiday so I will be doing more frequent posting anyway...*****_

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"Not necessarily," Larry mused, "For all we know he is just assuming Don is well and he is attempting to observe the probability of his locating by Don before…"

The light that had flickered back into Don's eyes had gone and the colour he was starting to regain was fading fast, Alan leapt at him with the bucket just in time.

The team winced at the sound of their boss throwing up, but just as Alan began to lead Don away, Matt Li came bounding in. "We need to get agent Eppes to a hospital right now!"

"What!" The question came from several sets of lips simultaneously.

"Don was exposed to vapours coming from the cloth that they had dropped." He sighed, "It was soaked in Chlorine and a trace of some sort of derivative of strychnine."

"Strychnine?" David's voice was grim and forbidding to the aura of calm he was struggling to keep.

"You're joking! You had better be joking! THEY WERE TRYING TO PUT THAT ON CHARLIE!"

Most of those in the room were looking dejected and the buzzing of workers had simply stopped. Colby was seething and had began pushing papers from his desk, leaving them fluttering to the floor in a heap. Alan didn't know what 'Strychnine' was, but he certainly knew about chlorine. Poison.

"He's dead!" Amita sobbed into David as he pulled her towards him in a tight embrace.

"Oh Charles…" Larry pressed one hand over his fore head and leaned on the nearest desk with the other.

Alan stood, mouth open, waiting for someone to tell him this wasn't true. He was waiting for Charlie to jump in and for everyone to laugh and he was waiting to wake up on the couch, before they had even left for dinner.

It was true. Charlie didn't jump out and nobody laughed. He wasn't going to wake up. This wasn't a dream. Charlie was almost certainly dead, or soon to be. Charles Edward Eppes, was now only a memory in his loved ones' minds. He was just another mathematician that could've done so much more. He should have had the chance.

His youngest was gone and his oldest, Alan looked sadly at Don; still continuously coughing up bile, was possibly seriously ill.


	13. Cruelty is my sin

"So what now?" Ryan was visibly annoyed, "Why haven't we killed him yet? That's what we're getting paid for."

"We were told to make a show of it." The man was clearly in charge and looked into Ryan's eyes coldly, "I'm going to need some special equipment."

He looked up as their 'driver' slammed the door, but quickly went back to the conversation, "I'll also be needing you to collect Augie Harris; the FBI will already be redeveloping their computer protection firewalls and possibly adding new ones"

"So..? We have everything that was in there about or by Charles Edward Eppes and they can't trace it back to us. Lets just kill him."

"We're going to make his brother watch." With that the man left the room, the others looking at one another in confusion.


	14. Hacked or hacker

The federal building in LA was unusually quiet. Every person, agent or civilian, seemed to be watching in anticipation as the firewalls in the FBI's database were slowly 'knocked down'.

To David Sinclair it appeared that only four people were actually doing anything: Mathew Li and Larry were working with two other federal technicians in an attempt to stop the hackers and, most likely, murderers of Charles Eppes. David grimaced at the thought of his good friend suffering.

"Who do think you trying to kid Larry!" Amita's voice cut David's thoughts short. He turned to watch the woman, already hovering over the technicians. "They will get through all of that! They've done most of this before!" David looked over Amita; the woman was strong, he knew, but this seemed to have hit himself and Colby harder than her! He smiled bleakly at the all too unbelievable situation they were facing.

"Well what else can we do? They are going to hack into the system anyway." Matt Li was too focused on his work to notice how harsh he had sounded. Everyone else however, looked at Amita. Stunned with fear of what she'd do.

"Maybe we could hack them first."

Matt Li looked up at Amita to prompt her. "Go on."

"I took a look at the memory unit to see if we could find the source, and they don't seem to have used _any _sort of super computer or special equipment, which is both incredible _and _our advantage." David had become lost, but the technicians seemed to be nodding in approval. "I'll need to go get my laptop fro-"

"Charlie's is already up here." David bit his tongue after interrupting. "Uh, but you don't have to, um, use his computer."

"I can't" Everyone began looking around aimlessly, the awkward silence only lasted a few seconds, but David still took in a deep breath when she spoke again. "There's a password and I don't know how much effort he's put into securing it otherwise."

"Um, okay, sure. Where are you going?"

"Just to the car, its in the boot." She strode out of the bullpen.


	15. Battleships and submarines

"I'm getting something" A dozen half-asleep agents' heads shot up as Matt Li and Amita huddled round her feeble laptop.

"What you got?" Don had been silent for the past thirty minutes; patiently waiting for a result. Maybe now he was getting one. "It's just numbers; just coding. We can't use this!" This got the crowd going; at least 20 sets of eyes rolled simultaneously.

"Hasn't Charlie taught you anything about numbers and coding?" Amita allowed a grin to play across her lips as she thought of all the times she and Charlie had managed to piece together entire cases using only a few measly 'numbers and codes'. In fact, everyone except seemed to glow at those joking words; in turn, everyone had been proved wrong by the math at one time or another.

"Yeah. Charlie has taught me loads about numbers. But those rules don't apply."

"And why's that?" Amita challenged.

Don stood rigidly and stared at the back of his brother's wife as she bent over the screen. "Because Charlie's not here."

The tension became thick and no one could help, but watch as Amita turned and looked with concern, not quite directly into Don's dark eyes. The same dark eyes as Charlie's. She knew he was uncomfortable being this honest, and she forced herself to at least give him the respect of looking the man in the eyes.

She only meant to glance, but what she saw was heart breaking. Those, she knew, were the eyes of a broken man.

"The code's translated." In a split second Don had blinked away the weakness and Agent Eppes resurfaced. He took long professional strides to the conference room; where Matt was setting up the computer to wide screen link. Amita, far less accustomed (even after years of working with him) to Don's mesmerizing ability to distance himself and remain poised in seemingly any situation, took in several deep breaths and swallowed hard before turning to join the others in the conference room where Matt was explaining the slowly emerging documents on screen. "Most of this is just data streams from their previous hacks, but-"

"Wait, so they aren't hacking anymore?"

Amita jumped right in. "No. Once we hacked their computer, we automatically got control." She spoke over David as he opened his mouth, to answer his unspoken question. "The reason we took control of their computer so quickly is because they weren't expecting us to hack." Amita paused for thought, "Imagine that the FBI database is a fleet of cargo ships: carrying; receiving and exporting goods. The hackers are in a battle ship; attacking the cargo ships is simple enough as there isn't much of a defence in comparison to the battleship's attack weapons, so the hacker's are pretty confident." She paused to give the agents a chance to absorb these ideas. "We, are an armed submarine. Sneaking up to attack the enemy." Amita nodded slowly to encourage some 'class participation'.

Colby nodded in understanding, "The hacker's weren't bothering to guard."

"Or even have a look-out." Nikki muttered with distaste.

"Right. And with no guard and no look-out, the ship goes down with minimum attack." Amita finished the analogy.

Matt took his chance to speak. "And looks like I've managed to pry into the video feed, about which I was attempting to inform you, and with some luck I should be able to activate the device."

"He's gonna..?" Colby looked lost, but Don knew exactly what he was saying.

"He's turning on the camera. He's gonna let us see them."


	16. My Brother on the Staircase

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"Why don't you just face me like a man!" The figure pulled his cuff's to their limit, making the metal clank together noisily as he flexed and relaxed. The cuff's were attaching him to both one of the support rails and the handrail of a stairway. The camera angle suggested that the laptop was directly at the bottom of the stairs, on a ledge or table maybe.

By now everyone had frozen. No one dared draw breath before their boss, and most everyone was too shocked to do so anyway.

"Oh God!" Amita breathed in horror.

Most would say that there he was; Charles Edward Eppes, no doubt about it. But Don saw someone else. His little brother would be shaken at the thought of this situation. The man he was looking at seemed bored; most clearly agrivated by the chains.  
Charlie had now twisted the chain so that he was facing the railing. He was leaning over the banister yelling curses ant empty threats. It was only when charlie finally gave in and sat in his original position that don found his voice.

"Charlie!" Don squeaked. In a second Charlie's focus was on the laptop, he had heard his brother's voice through the speakers, which had connected to amita's in-built mic, and instantaneously his whole demeanour changed. Charlie's eyes became bigger, Don could swear, than he had ever seen of his brother before. He was still Charlie. With dark drooping bags under his eyes, he looked malnourished. His skin was no longer simply pale, it had taken on such a bluish tinge that if he were asleep; don would be sure he would be dead, and old and new bruises; alone each was tiny; covered his exposed arms like smuges of assorted coloured pens.  
"Don? Don!" Most watching flinched at the looks of desperation he scanned the computer with.

"Charlie!" Don mirrored this desperation. David kept his smarts though, and used Charlie as a beneficial resource.

"Charlie? Charlie I need you to tell me where these guys are?" Charlie nodded officially, glancing away from the screen in thought. David paused for a second, "And Charlie?" He said, "Can you tell us what their planning?" Charlie's cheeks flushed and his eyes widened as he looked directly toward the camera lens. He looked at the lens intensely, like he could actually see his brother. And gulped.

"Charlie!" Don's brotherly concern over-rid his FBI Agent motif. "Don't lie to me! If I know anything, I know when you look precontimplatingly guilty."

"Don, I wasn't going to lie," Charlie barked in defence. "It's just that.. I really love you Don."

Panic corsed though David Sinclair as he realised that his friend was saying goodbye.

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	17. Turn off the computer

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Everybody froze; studying Charlie's face on the screen as they, one-by-one, realised why Charlie had said what he'd just said. Don was the only one left uncertain of his brother's words' meaning, "Wait, wha-?"

"Charlie, man, don't do this. Don't you give upon us." Colby urgently cut in. "You know we're coming right." David looked at Colby and nodded at his reassuring words, despite the fact that Charlie could probably only hear them.

"Um, I, uh," Charlie's head whipped around as loud footsteps could be heard, "Oh, SHIT!" He desperately leaned toward the laptop and pulled his arm forward, but the chain clanked as it reached it's limit."Turn it off!"

Amita tried to ignore emotion and went for logic instead, "You shouldn't have any visible link though. Can you see us?"

"No," Charlie glanced at the screen, but quickly turned back to looking at the doorway behind him, "but I've been taking crap from this guy for to long and, if I try to hit him," Charlie grinned playfully,"I'd rather you didn't see me get my ass kicked."

The new side of Charlie shined through in his smile and even more so in his newly found dark humour. It made Don shudder slightly and as he glanced around at his friends he realised that he was not alone in this slightly disturbed feeling.

"Um, alright, we'll turn it off." David opened the settings and turned off the outgoing mic, but leaving on everything else.

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	18. And I forgive you all for watching

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"We're going." Ryan walked around, past the screen and sat in front of Charlie. He pulled a set of small keys from his shirts' breast pocket and began to unlock one of the cuffs. The left cuff clicked open, "Next stop; Hell."

Everyone winced at what happened next, though at the same time they continued to watch; impressed. "Maybe for you." Charlie shook his fist before climbing over the, now in shock, kidnapper and reached for a set of car keys next to the laptop. "And I forgive you all for watching." Charlie closed the laptop and slipped it under his arm before quickly vacating the house.

There was a slam and Ryan, clutching his streaming and clearly broken nose, looked at the door. "The little shit punched me!" He looked around in disbelief, "OI! WE GOT A PROBLEM!"

"WHAT'S WRONG? HE TURN RABID!" Another voice joked from somewhere else in the house. The man walked into the room, "WHERE'D HE GO!" he looked at his partner who ignored him, "And what happened to you!" He also turned his head to the door at the roaring sound of their van's engine. "Oh."

"Damn." Ryan breathed still staring at the door, but taking his phone out of his pocket and pressing speed dial 3.

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	19. Drive over the broken laptop

I'm not sure whether I want Charlie to get away so if anyone wants to give their opinion of whether or not he should get away (no further ideas of how he should do so please) just post it as a review and I'll take it into consideration.

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Everyone stood in silence for several minutes, until finally a stunned Colby uttered, "I guess he's not dead then."

David glared at Granger, but Larry interjected before any harsh words could be said, "Which means there was something wrong with the poison."

"Or it's just slow acting." Nikki commented, "Don still looks pretty awful to me."

The rooms focus now on Don, he looked around stubbornly, his words strong and forcefully, "Look, he's fine enough and he had full exposure. I am **not** going anywhere."

"Don." Liz looked meaningfully at her boss and he knew she was about to win this battle, he knew he was in the wrong. "Don please, we can't even begin to ge-"

"DON! OH FUU-!" The rooms attention was on the computer screen; not alot of help though as the screen had once again gone blank.

"Oh God! Oh God! What am I doing!" Charlie spoke nervously under his breath as he tried to get control of the vehicle. He repeatedly drove his fingers back through his hair with a shaking hand; a nervous twitch of his. "Think, think. The computer's broken. That's okay; it probably had GPS in it anyway." As the van's swerves calmed to shakes his voice grew louder and he began to sound alot more self-assured. "In that case," He nodded and combed his hair back once more, "I should probably get rid of it." Charlie looked from the road to under the front passenger seat, where the laptop had fallen, and back to the road again.

He made a few right turns and parked haphazardly, clambering out of the van he leaned over and pulled out the laptop. He grimaced as he examined it; he knew Amita could be using the GPS aswell by now, but he couldn't take the risk. He took a deep breath and knelt down next to the front left wheel of the van, tucking the computer behind it. He jumped back into the vehicle and turned on the ignition.

Charlie winced at the loud crunching noise of the computer being crushed as he backed out, then turned the car around and headed back to his original path. He hit a red light and as he waited, he felt his whole body shaking as shock tried to take over.

He leaned back and contorted his damp face with equally sweaty hands. "Okay, it's fine. You have no idea where you are, but its fine. I have no idea where I am. Don has no idea where I am," His breaths became short and rapid and his eyes glazed over as he moved his hands up from his face to grasp his lanky locks. "But it's fine. I just need to get somewhere familiar and I'll be okay." The light went yellow, then green and Charlie started the van, commenting on himself under his breath, "I _could _be heading in the wrong direction. And if I turn around, with my luck, I'll end up where I started. Wouldn't that just be a barrel of fun." He smirked nonchalantly at his own sarcasm; he would almost definitely look crazy to anyone watching him as he drove by, but at least he was no longer shaking as if he was having a seizure of some sort.

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